BY JOHN DECOSTE
Kings County Advertiser/Register
There will be a brand new hockey team for fans to cheer on in the Valley starting this fall.
The Kings Mutual Valley Wildcats Bantam AAA Hockey Club, less than a month old, will debut this fall in a new 12-team Nova Scotia Major Bantam Hockey League.
According to team president Graham Baxter of Cambridge, the Valley team will begin play in September.
The new team will draw players from Mount Uniacke to Digby, with home games at the new Kings Mutual Century Centre in Berwick, scheduled to be in operation by this fall.
The Wildcats, according to Baxter, “are very much a work in progress.” The team has a logo (team colours will be black, red and white), a major sponsor (Kings Mutual has agreed to a three-year commitment) and strong community and corporate support.
“We have 25 to 30 businesses committed to supporting us for the next two to three years,” Baxter says, “and we’re just getting started.”
The plan is for the Bantams to be affiliated with the Midget Wildcats, though Baxter, who is also on the Midget Wildcats’ board, stresses, “it might still be a little premature to say that. The Midgets are supporting us, but all the details aren’t worked out yet.”
The new team is governed by a board of directors, on which space will be reserved for representatives of each of the three hockey associations (West Hants, Acadia and Western Valley) from which players will be drawn.
The Bantam Wildcats have an ID camp scheduled for May 19 to 30 at Acadia Arena. Any Valley Bantam-aged players are welcome to attend.
“We want to draw players from the entire Valley,” Baxter says. “That’s the only way for us to be successful as an open, community-based team.”
As well, the team has commitments from K-Rock for public address announcing, doctors, an equipment manager, a mental training consultant and a strength and conditioning coach. It is currently advertising for a head coach.
As for the new league, it will be similar to the existing Nova Scotia Major Midget Hockey League, with franchises in Cape Breton, the Strait area, Pictou County, Cole Harbour/ Eastern Shore, Dartmouth, Bedford, Halifax, TASA/ Chebucto, Sackville/ East Hants, Western (Barrington/ Bridgewater/ Chester), the Valley and Fundy (Truro and area).
Given Nova Scotia’s minor hockey system and the talent at the Bantam level in the province, Baxter predicts, “it should be a good, strong league.”
